Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/483475
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 MARCH 2015 24 Letters Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. Participative democracy Lead pollution by hunters In 1993 the PN in government set up the local councils. Thus was the principle of subsidiarity brought to the Maltese political fora. Subsidi- arity is an organising principle that is based on the belief that matters ought to be handled by the small- est, lowest or least centralised competent authority. Political decisions should be tak- en at a local level if possible, rather than by a central authority. A clear example of the issue of subsidiarity is the way the European Union works. Under the principle of subsidiarity, in areas which do not fall within its exclusive compe- tence, the Union shall act only if, and in so far as, the objectives of the proposed action cannot be suf- ficiently achieved by the member states, either at central level or at regional and local level. The Union will act on certain matters only if, for reasons of scale or because of the effects of the proposed action, the result can be better achieved at Union level. Over the years various reforms have been introduced, in particu- lar the recent changes whereby further powers are being devolved to local councils. Unfortunately, this has not been accompanied by the much needed funds that local councils need to function properly and take the necessary positive decisions for the benefit of the locality. The buzz word by all persons in- volved in local councils is "partici- pation" and the biggest effort is to get more valid persons to volunteer their names, either as candidates or just to become involved in council activities. We tend to hear councillors complain about the lack of interest by residents in the ongoing work by the council; that residents only make themselves heard when a street light does not function, or when they suffer an inconvenience caused by some infrastructural works. I have put my name forward as a PN Candidate for the Swieqi local council elections because I believe that "Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber" (Plato.) By this I do not mean that I consider myself clev- erer than most, but that I feel that I have particular skills that will aid me in working for the locality and to get more residents involved in the work of the council. It is important to be the change we want to see in anything we en- deavour to perform. Although, to date, I have never had the privilege of serving on a council, over the past years I have used social media to get residents discussing topics related to Swieqi. A page that I started four years ago entitled "Sw- ieqi Residents" today has grown to include around 3,000 members. These actively engage in very interesting debates and raise issues for the Council that might not have been discussed otherwise. Participative democracy is pre- cisely this: allowing people to be involved in discussions and deci- sions that affect them. Today, one of the best ways for this to happen is through social media. One will always have armchair critics who are the first to shoot down any idea and who focus only on the negative. However, today, social media remains an excellent tool to empower people and to help show that councillors really want to listen and learn what is of concern to the residents. A positive step was the recent introduction of having local council sessions streamed live over the internet. It is unfortunate that few people seem to be aware of this opportunity to keep in touch with council activities. It is critical that local councils are empowered to promote their work better and to keep in contact with residents throughout their term and not only close to elections. A new Swieqi local council also needs to empower residents to set up a residents' association. The aim of such an association is twofold: firstly, to keep the council accountable on its promises and to ensure that decisions are taken solely for the benefit of residents and the locality and not for that of any other interested parties; and, secondly, to lobby the council on priorities for projects, funds and activities. In a locality where there are no band clubs, no large political bars and where local sports organisa- tions have little resources, apart from the manpower of the faithful few, a residents' organisation would be invaluable to help bring together the diverse aspects and interests of the locality. On April 11 you, the resident, have the chance of electing the people you think will do the best job in improving your locality. I hope to be given the trust and opportunity of representing Sw- ieqi residents and the privilege to continue my work for the benefit of the locality in an official capac- ity. My primary aim, if elected, is to further empower residents and to get more of them to become involved in the locality. It is only together that we can achieve the results we need and want. Mauro Miceli PN candidate Swieqi The letter by Clifford John Wil- liams on lead poisoning (March 8, 2015) made interesting reading. A few years back while writing my monthly column 'A Greener Shade of Green' in this news- paper I had stressed on several occasions that millions of lead pellets are falling annually in the soil where our crops are planted. These pellets are being discharged by some of the 59,000 shotguns registered with the police in Malta. Nowhere in the world are there 11,000 hunters shooting in an area of 300 square kilometres, which is the area Malta has. As rightly pointed out in your correspondent's letter, "lead is a deadly poison". The Maltese are paranoic about lots of situations yet I find that very few people are bothering about their health. It was reported that one in every four Maltese persons is dying of cancer. Is that so surprising when each day we are eating poisoned vegetables from our fields and drinking lead-contaminated wa- ter from the water table? Do these facts bother anyone? If they do, then vote No in the referendum. Your vote will not eliminate all the lead pollution since we are voting to eliminate only spring hunting. Hunters will carry on polluting our soil and the water table in the autumn, but at least we would have eliminated the number of pellets shot in spring. Maurice F. Mizzi Bidnija Beyond the celebrations, regrets and disap- pointments, the results of last week's local elections warrant critical analysis. The results speak for themselves. The governing party lost substantial ground, the opposition party reaffirmed its supremacy in local elec- tions and the green party fell short of its high expectations. The hallmarks of these local council elec- tions were the growing trend of abstentions, particularly in the traditional Nationalist areas, hard local campaigning by the Labour party and, of course, the withdrawal of the Nationalist party from the Zejtun and Marsa elections. All three parties need to analyse the results in an objective manner. There can be little doubt that the governing party suffered a resounding defeat and debating over whether there has been a corresponding shift to La- bour is a moot point. The four per cent drop in voter turnout seems to imply otherwise. It could very well be that Nationalist voters, while sufficiently disgruntled with their party to stay away from the polling booths, have not transferred their disappointment into support for Labour. Their abstinence is of major concern to the Nationalist party, but the lack of a switch to Labour should ruffle the feathers of Labour's strategists too. All three parties need to do some serious soul searching. The growing abstention vote is of concern. Indeed, the outcome of the next election could be decided by the 'non-voting party'. Alternattiva's showing must be of concern to its leaders. It was an awfully poor result. They felt that success was within their reach, yet their support did not increase, as it should have given the high rate of voters who decided not to support their traditional party. These voters remained at home and AD did not win them over. What went wrong? Was it a question of the credibility of Arnold Cassola amongst the middle classes last June superseding that of the party? Were the European election results a protest vote and not a vote for AD? The party would do well to critically analyse the results. The reasons could well be that AD was unable, for lack of human and financial resources, to maintain the momentum it had established in the European Parliamentary elections. It remains far too absent and remote from the concerns of ordinary people such as employment and the cost of living. Its brand of politics has remained overly environmentally focused. More worryingly for AD, it is still not the natural home for the pale blue section of the disappointed middle classes. The Nationalist party, meanwhile, has been left with no small amount of egg on its face. In an atmosphere in which the parties are under the eagle eye of the electorate, one can- not afford attempting to fool the electorate by withdrawing from Zejtun. The party has had its own just deserts. The lauded 'intelligent' strategy, if there ever was a strategy at all, has backfired. The strategy, which was promised to be revealed in all its glory after the vote, remains a guarded party secret. In truth this was the strategy that never was, with its only scope being to water down the Labour vote. To date, no one has taken responsibility for this defeat. All fingers point towards the secretary general and he must take respon- sibility for last weekend's defeat. The party cannot simply take comfort in the high ab- stention vote registered in Nationalist areas and presume that the lost sheep will return come general election day. The party should listen to reason. The Labour party, rightly buoyed as it is from its resounding victory, would do well to not link its local council success with a guaranteed victory at the next general elec- tion. Without putting a damper on Labour's success, it is worth highlighting the fact that the abstaining Nationalists did not vote La- bour. This is significant and becomes more pertinent given the election's timing during a mid-term period of a government that is being questioned by its traditional support base. Given this, Labour should have scored even more goals. Labour is still not winning the hearts and minds of the disappointed pale blue Nationalists, a target group they need to win over. This is hardly surprising since Labour, to date, has failed to make any concrete proposals on a national level on how it would govern differently and, more particularly, how it would turn the economy around. Its proposals remain locally, as op- posed to nationally, focused. The thinking still seems to be along the lines winning by default and allowing a ham-fisted, clumsy government to carry on making political errors. With the local elections now behind us, it is most appropriate and welcome that the reform of the electoral system is back on the political agenda. Time for the parties to do some soul searching Editorial • March 20 2005